Source Code
by prosebyalicia
Summary: Amelia Hall is a gifted Canadian programming student completing her Masters in London. But on her last day of exams, Amelia finds herself taken away in an SUV and given the job opportunity of a lifetime. Post-Skyfall Q/OC
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Hello! I'm almost finished posting my first story 'Make It Count' and I decided to continue writing. This is a new OC with a very different story. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it!**

* * *

"Shit," the blonde muttered to herself as she fumbled with her map. She was already twenty minutes late to the schedule she'd prepared last night and had a strong feeling that she was on the complete opposite side of the city.

It would be just her luck to travel all the way to London for her admissions appointment to the University of London, only to miss it entirely.

She looked around for anyone who might have some idea of where she needed to go. However, she had a feeling that the little old lady in front of the shop across the road wouldn't know much about Birkbeck. She sighed, wondering if she should just give up and catch a taxi back to Heathrow.

Then she saw a young man, only a few years older than herself walking along the sidewalk towards her. His hair was shaggy, dark brown and almost covering his eyes. But he brushed it out of his eyes as he adjusted his horn rimmed glasses.

If anyone would be able to help her, it would be him.

* * *

Q walked briskly, preoccupied by the code he had left at Q-branch in search of something for lunch. He noticed someone waving at him, and looked to see a pretty blonde smiling at him.

"Hi," she began, and he noticed her accent. He couldn't pinpoint it, American?

"Hello," he replied politely with a nod.

"I was wondering if you would be able to help me. I'm trying to get to Birkbeck campus but I'm fairly certain my taxi driver took me the complete wrong direction. I'm supposed to have an admissions meeting in a half hour," she said quickly before her cheeks flushed pink.

Q laughed.

She smiled, "Sorry, I didn't mean to just put that all on you."

Q shook his head, "It's fine. I assume this is your first time in London?"

The blonde nodded.

"Birkbeck is actually just around the corner, let me show you."

* * *

Amelia felt a bit like an idiot as the man walked her around the corner before pointing out the big sign that read 'Birkbeck'.

"So what are you planning on studying here?" he asked her as he shifted awkwardly.

"Advanced Computing Technologies, I just finished my undergraduate in computer technology back home and decided to do a Masters," she explained. She was surprised to see a smirk appear on his face.

"Very interesting."

He extended a hand to her and she took it, shaking it briefly.

"Thank you for your help…" she said, pausing when she realized she didn't know his name.

"Q."

She looked at him oddly. "Q," she repeated, "I'm Amelia. Thank you again."

With that, Q walked away as Amelia prepared herself to navigate herself to the admissions office.

* * *

_One Year Later_

Amelia had finished her last exam. She sighed with relief as she left campus and headed out towards her flat. She had a few hours to kill before she went to the pub with her friends to celebrate and she was looking forward to relaxing.

She put her headphones in as the music filled her ears and she smiled. She was content and happy to be away from a computer screen for a little while.

Suddenly a black SUV appeared next to her and the next thing she knew she was being pulled in.

* * *

The car pulled away quickly and she found herself seated next to a man in a very expensive suit.

"Where are you taking me? What's going on?" she demanded as the man turned to look at her.

He had a stern look and simply sighed.

"M will tell you everything, now I suggest you put on your seat belt."


	2. Chapter 2

The car came to a stop and Amelia realized that they were in some sort of parking garage.

The man in the suit exited the car before coming over to Amelia's side and opening the door. Amelia got out cautiously, still nervous about what was going on. Who was this M guy anyway?

The pair walked towards an open elevator. Amelia found herself playing with the hem of her shirt, a nervous habit she'd had since childhood.

After what felt like hours, the doors to the elevator opened to a long hallway. Suit man ushered her out.

A woman sitting by a nearby desk stood up to greet her. Amelia felt at ease when the woman smiled at her.

She extended her hand, "I'm Miss Moneypenny. I apologize for this ordeal but M needed to see you immediately. He'll explain everything."

Amelia nodded as Miss Moneypenny showed her to what Amelia assumed was M's office. She rapped on the door gently before opening it.

* * *

"Do you think she'll accept?" M asked the Quartermaster who was seated across from him.

Q nodded.

"I think if she's anything at all like I was, she won't be able to resist."

M chuckled as the door opened. Eve stood with the blonde who pulled her hair behind her ear nervously.

It had been a year but she looked the same as when Q had met her on the street despite being more casually dressed in jeans and a purple long sleeved top.

M rose from his seat to greet the girl.

* * *

M was warm and friendly, much like Miss Moneypenny, which made Amelia feel comfortable.

"I do apologize for the theatrics Miss Hall, but I do have a proposition for you. Please sit," he said, motioning to the seat next to Q.

Amelia sat down, eyeing Q. She couldn't place him but she knew she'd seen his face before.

"Miss Hall?" M asked, breaking Amelia from her thoughts. She turned to look at the man.

"Do you know where you are?"

She shook her head, "To be quite frank sir, I have no idea."

He smiled, "This is MI6, Britian's intelligence agency. And today, I'd like to offer you a job.

* * *

Amelia's eyes widened.

"Pardon?"

M settled back down in his seat.

"Last year, you found yourself lost on your way to your admissions meeting at Birkbeck. The man you asked for assistance was our Quartermaster. We've been following your credentials since in order to determine if you would be the right fit for our Q-branch. I spoke with CSIS who has been following you since your exceptionally high GPA during your third year at Waterloo. They passed along some information, as did your supervising professor and it was decided that you would be a strong candidate," M explained.

Amelia shook her head, "Wait, CSIS? I didn't know the Canadian government was tracking students at Waterloo. I mean, we all joked about it during our first year but I thought those were just baseless rumours."

M smiled.

Q turned to look at the girl who was still trying to process what was going on.

"Amelia," he said, catching her attention.

"We want you to help with Q-branch. Your programming skills, paired with your hacking knowledge would be a great help to us," he said.

"So you're sure I'm not in trouble for hacking into the Waterloo's database, because I swear it was a dare and I only really did it because Frances said that I couldn't…" she said, stopping herself when she realized she'd begun to ramble.

M shook his head.

"I assure you, you are not in trouble Miss Hall. But will you accept our offer?"

Amelia smiled, and nodded.

M shook her hand, "Excellent. Amelia Hall, welcome to MI6"


	3. Chapter 3

**Time for Amelia to meet Bond. :)**

* * *

The hardest part about working for MI6 was not being able to tell anyone that she was working for MI6. Q had briefed her on her cover job as a programmer for a promising tech company. Amelia was surprised how easily everyone bought her story but mildly relieved not to worry about anyone trying to pull the truth out of her.

She sighed as she leaned back in her desk chair, closing her eyes to give her mind a rest from the numerous lines of code in front of her.

It had been three weeks, and slowly but surely she was getting adjusted to her new job. She grabbed her mug before heading off to the kitchen, in need of another cup of tea.

* * *

She leaned against the counter as she waited for the water to boil. She turned her attention to her slacks, brushing away a loose thread before she heard someone enter the room.

It was Marcus, another programmer who, as Amelia had made note of, liked to use humour to diffuse situations. On her first day, he asked if she was Q's new bird, which lead to some blushing on both her and Q's parts.

"Hey Marcus," she said as the kettle sounded. She moved to poor the water in her mug before turning to her colleague with a smile.

"'Melia," he said warmly, "What are you doing in here? You're going to miss Bond and Q having a domestic."

"Bond?" she asked curiously.

Marcus sighed, "007, has no one told you anything about this place? He manages to destroy at least one piece of equipment per mission and knows how to get on Q's nerves. It's a fantastic show to witness. C'mon!"

The man ushered her out of the kitchen, and Amelia noticed a crowd of her colleagues turned to face Q and a taller blonde with broad shoulders.

"I don't know why you insist on always destroying your equipment!" Q said, throwing his hands in the air before running a hand through his hair angrily.

"I don't try to," Bond said curtly, "but field work can be…messy."

"I have told you before, and I will repeat it again Bond, but I can do more damage on my laptop sitting in my pyjamas before my first cup of Earl Grey than you can do in a year in the field. Now the next time I give you something, please try to bring it back in one piece next time."

Amelia didn't hear Bond say anything but start to walk away, as he came close she could here him mutter "The old Q would've found it amusing."

The agent looked at her and she noticed how blue his eyes were, like the ocean on a summer morning.

"Hello," he said, snapping her out of her thought.  
She smiled, "Hello, Bond."

He smirked, "They've warned you about me then?"

She nodded. He extended his hand to her.

"I'm Amelia Hall, programmer. So you destroying equipment doesn't impact me nearly as much as the R&amp;D team over there," she said, gesturing to a group of men who were looking over at Bond with a glare.

Bond laughed.

"Pleasure to meet you Amelia Hall."

* * *

"Miss Hall."

Amelia looked up from her computer to see Q standing above her. She noticed he was frowning, she also noticed one of his curls was in front of her face. She resisted the urge to move it for him.

"Yes, sir."

"I noticed you met 007 today," he began, as he pulled on his cardigan sleeve.

"I did."

"I would just like to tell you to be careful with Bond. He can be a bit of a menace to our department, not to mention his habit of fraternizing with multiple women at a time…"

Amelia looked confused for a moment, before her mouth curled into a smile.

"Sir, are you worried that Bond's going to try to take me to bed?"

Q's eyes widened as a pink flush appeared across his cheeks.

"No, I mean certainly not. I did not mean to infer that you would…" he rambled before Amelia raised her hand.

"Really, Q, it's fine. I appreciate the concern but you really have nothing to worry about. Besides, Bond's not really my type anyway."

Q nodded before her scampered back to his seat.

Marcus slid his desk chair over to her.

"What was that all about?" he asked.

Amelia explained and noticed Marcus start to laugh.  
"What's so funny?" she demanded.

He shook his head. "You two are both daft. It's obvious that Q's mad about you. C'mon Melia, keep up!"

Amelia shook her head before shooing Marcus away. As she returned to her work she couldn't help but smile at the thought of Q.


	4. Chapter 4

**On a bit of a roll and decided to do two updates to this story! Anyway, hope you like it. :)**

* * *

Marcus' comments had made Amelia a bit uneasy. She realized that having a silly schoolgirl crush on your boss was perfectly natural, but acting on it would be completely against workplace policy.

She sighed, as she drank her Orange Pekoe. She'd spoken to her roommate Lucy about the situation and knew that she shouldn't take her advice (which had simply been that an office shag can be a lot of fun). She turned her attention to her code, happy to have a silent place to work.

It was 11:30 and everyone had gone home. Everyone except for Q, her boss. Her boss, she reminded herself as she tried to rid the thoughts from her mind. She finished her work and began gathering her things. All she wanted to do was get out of Q-branch before she did something that would be grounds for her termination.

She had grabbed her bag and began walking toward the door before she heard him call to her.

"Shit," she muttered to herself as she turned around and headed towards his desk.

"Yes sir."

Q looked up at her with a smile.

"If you don't mind waiting a few minutes, I thought we might share a taxi."

Amelia smiled back.

* * *

The taxi ride was silent, but the lack of conversation actually put Amelia at ease. When they got into the taxi, they realized that they only lived a block apart, so Q quickly gave his address as Amelia turned to look out the window.

After arriving at their stop, Q handed the drive ten quid before the pair got out onto the street. She noticed Q staring at her and she began to feel uncomfortable under his gaze.

"Is something on my face," she finally asked, as she placed a hand to feel her cheek.

He chuckled, "No, I was just admiring the lovely shade of green your eyes take on in this light."

She smiled as she felt him come closer to her. Her breathing hitched as she heard the voice in her head telling her to stop, move away and go home.

Instead, she stood in place, closing her eyes as Q raised his hand to her cheek to pull her into him.

The kiss was gentle, and Amelia felt herself smiling as he moved away. He looked at her brightly.

"God, I've been wanting to do that since the first time I laid eyes on you," he said.

She nodded, "Me too."

"Would you like to come up?" he asked.

She nodded.

"I thought you'd never ask."

* * *

Amelia stared at the ceiling as she felt Q turn in his sleep next to her. The sun had woken her up at 5 a.m. and she hadn't been able to fall asleep again.

Her eyes widened when she recalled the events from last night.

_I just slept with my boss._

She knew what she had to do now, she couldn't work there. Even if Q didn't treat her differently, Marcus would get the story out of her and then tease her to no end.

She loved the job, but she didn't want to be 'that girl' in the office.

She climbed out of bed, careful not to wake Q before grabbing her things and leaving the flat.

* * *

Amelia arrived back at her flat and ignored Lucy's cheering and congratulatory high five.

She simply grabbed her computer and emailed Q through the encrypted email system he'd put on her laptop.

_Subject: Notice of my resignation_

_Q,_

_I know this isn't exactly that appropriate and that I probably should've given more time. However, I didn't plan for things to get out of hand. Anyway, I'm resigning from my position in Q branch, effective immediately. _

_Work is great, you are great, but I will not become 'that girl'._

_Sorry,_

_Amelia._

After pressing send she pulled up an old email from one of her professors. It was for a position in a bank. After a few minutes, he replied with information about the job as well as a contact email.

Thirty minutes later, she received a phone call.

"Miss Hall, this is Mr. Remly. Professor Trawney has sent me some of your work along with a glowing recommendation. We'd like to invite you to a programming test next week."

After writing down the time and location, Amelia noticed a new email from her MI6 account.

_Subject: Resignation accepted._

_Ms. Hall,_

_I have received your late notice but have accepted it. Please feel free to come in today to collect your things._

_Thank you,_

_Q._

Just when she thought she'd seen him warm up, he'd gone back to being as emotionless as the computers he worked with.


	5. Chapter 5

It had been two months since Amelia had packed up her things and left MI6. Her bank position consisted primarily of programming new software and occasionally hacking the system to look for flaws in the system and other security issues.

The work was steady but incredibly uninspiring. Amelia found herself nodding off more often than she'd like to admit.

And so she spent her weekdays sitting behind a desk typing furiously on her computer.

She ran her hand through her hair, sighing to herself.

"Bored?" asked a voice from the other side of her cubicle. Amelia smiled.

A friendly redhead appeared over the partition with a smile on her face.

"C'mon now, don't you find developing user interfaces _riveting_?" she asked with a grin.

Amelia laughed.

"Why of course Grace, what ever else would I do with my life?" she replied sarcastically.

Grace smiled at her friend.

"Wanna go grab lunch?"

Amelia nodded furiously, "Yes, anything to get me away from the screen."

Grace grabbed her bag, chuckling.

"Just don't let Remly hear you say that,"

—

The two friends made their way back from the cafe, laughing at the latest internal office gossip.

"I cannot believe that, Chris and Tara? Really? She positively hated him the first time they met!" Grace said incredulously.

Amelia shook her head, "I swear, Mark said he saw the two of them in the stairwell on Thursday."

The girls just laughed. As they made their way back to the bank building, Amelia stopped.

"I'm just going to spend a little more time out here, away from the computer," she said with a smile.

Grace simply nodded, "See you up there."

The air was starting to get colder and Amelia found herself wrapping her arms around herself to keep the chill at bay.

Suddenly a man came up to her.

"Do you happen to have a lighter?" he asked.

Amelia shook her head not bothering to make eye contact, "I'm sorry, I don't smoke."

"Amelia," the man said, causing her to look up at him.

"Bond?"

—

The two sat in the back of a dark SUV, and Amelia couldn't help but smile as she remembered her first trip to MI6.

Eventually the car stopped and Bond simply nodded to her.

"Now M wants to see you right away. Wouldn't tell me why, just that you're presence was of the utmost importance."

Amelia bit her lip nervously, "Right."

After an elevator ride and walk down a familiar hallway, the two arrived at M's office.

Eve smiled at the girl, "Go right on in Amelia, he's expecting you."

Amelia smiled nervously, taking a deep breath.


	6. Chapter 6

"Amelia," M said, smiling at her. Despite his friendly demeanor, Amelia could sense a worrisome tone to his voice.

"Is everything alright?" she asked.

M shook his head, "I'm afraid it's not. Q's been attacked. We found him late last night, severe bruises, mild concussion and a few broken ribs but he'll be alright."

Amelia's heart sank at the thought of Q in pain.

"Q asked us specifically to find you to take care of the Q-branch in his absence. He wouldn't really explain but it appears he's always seen you as one of his equals."

Amelia nodded, "Of course, but what about my job at the bank."

M smiled, "Don't worry Miss Hall, we'll take care of that. I'll have Miss Moneypenny take you down to the branch."

—

The two ladies walked down the hallway.

"You're resignation was the talk of the place for a while. No one could figure out what had happened," Eve began.

She noticed the blonde stiffen up, "I'm sorry Amelia, I shouldn't have said anything."

Amelia shook her head, "It's okay Eve, really. I just had my reasons for going."

The two stopped as they reached the door to Q-branch.

Amelia went to open the door before pausing again.

"Can you just let M know that I'd like to see Q, as soon as possible. It'll help with the transition."

Eve nodded, of course.

—  
"Melia! Christ, I never thought I'd see your face again. But when they said you'd be taking over Q's position for a while, I got you a little welcome back gift," Marcus said, as he held out a new box of Orange Pekoe tea.

Amelia hugged him tightly, "It's good to be back, terrible circumstances of course, but I missed you guys."

Various other members of the branch welcomed her back. It appeared that M had briefed them all before her arrival. If there was an animosity towards her assuming such a high rank, she didn't sense it…yet.

—  
The rest of the day went by smoothly, Amelia felt strange accessing Q's computer but it became apparent that the work he was doing was unfinished. She finished up a few final lines of code before she decided to leave.


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry for my absence! Life got in the way, not to mention I'm stuck on some plot points at the moment. But I did want to update for you since it's been far too long. I hope this'll suffice. I promise I'll get some more out to you soon. Also, I have a nice little Christmas one-shot up continuing the story of Piper and Q from Make it Count. I'd love it if you'd give it a read and let me know what you think. Thanks! - Alicia**

It felt strange to be in a position of such authority, but Amelia was slowly beginning to not feel as awkward in her role, mainly after reminding herself that it was only temporary. Sitting in Q's office, she found herself thinking back to the last few months, mainly her abrupt exit from MI6. Amelia sipped at her tea, trying not to reopen old wounds when suddenly she noticed a new program window open on the laptop in front of her.

hello amelia hall

She felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up as she stared at the screen in front of her. Rising from her chair quickly, she raced to the door to check the office only to see that everyone had left for lunch. She sat back down slowly, taking a deep breath before typing back.

who is this  
not important  
but q has something i need  
why would i help you i dont know you

She waited nervously for a response.

if you dont q wont be as lucky as he was last time

Suddenly a window opened on the screen with live footage of the security cameras inside MI6. A cursor chose one camera and Amelia froze when she realized that it was moved to look at her.

i am always watching amelia  
if you tell anyone  
q won't be the only one in trouble  
what is that supposed to mean  
i know much more about you than you think amelia  
include where you live

Amelia felt goosebumps on her arms as the stranger continued typing.

i will send instructions soon  
have a nice day :)

Amelia shut the program, as she felt her hands tremble. Soon her entire body was shaking and she felt her stomach twisting up inside of her. Her knees were shaking as she raced out of the room.

—

In her haste Amelia bumped into Bond.

"Sorry Bond," she said quickly.

He smiled at her, "Glad to see you're back."

She nodded with a quick smile before rushing off.

—

That night her cell phone rang. Normally she ignored it at night, but she was hopeful that it was simply her mother calling. Even after being abroad for a year, her mother couldn't figure out the time difference.

"Hello," she answered groggily.

"Good evening Amelia," a voice replied.

The voice had a distorted sound that Amelia couldn't quite make out.

"Good evening," she replied cautiously.

"I told you instructions would come soon."

At that moment, Amelia felt a chill run the entire length of her body. But she took a deep breath.

"I'm ready."


End file.
